Former President Donald Trump and his legal team, along with many Republicans, continue to raise issues with comments made by Federal Judge Tanya Chutkan. Chutkan set the date for Trump’s federal election interference case for March 4, 2024, the day before Super Tuesday when numerous states will hold Republican nomination elections.
Trump’s lawyers had sought a date after January 1, 2026. Chutkan rejected the timeline and compared the amount of time available for the legal team to prepare with that of one 9/11 conspirator and the surviving individual responsible for the Boston Marathon attack in 2013.
Chutkan said that the Boston Marathon bomber’s trial began less than two years after the events and that one of the 9/11 defendants’ trial began about four years after the events. Both of these cases involved terrorist attacks directly tied to the individual’s actions. Trump’s trial is scheduled to begin three years, one month, and 27 days since the January 6 event.
Republicans claim the comparison is not only unfair but also politically motivated. In tying Trump to the infamous terrorist attacks, public perception of the current candidate could be swayed. Trump is the front-runner at this early stage in the election for the GOP nomination and likely holds an advantage in public polling in a run-off against President Joe Biden. On August 28, Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) introduced legislation to censure Chutkan over her apparent bias.
Rep. @MattGaetz is introducing a resolution to censure US District Court Judge Tanya Chutkan, who is overseeing a case against former President Trump, and open an investigation into her "for showing open bias and partisanship in her official duties." https://t.co/F2yYMI4GJ9
— The Epoch Times (@EpochTimes) August 28, 2023
Chutkan’s comments are far from the first time the Obama-appointed judge has raised concerns about her possible impartiality. During the sentencing of one J-6 defendant, Chutkan said that Trump should be in jail and called his supporters fanatics who don’t respect the Constitution.
Earlier, Chutkan had said that comparisons between the J-6 protestors and those of the Black Lives Matter movement were a false equivalency. Chutkan believes the BLM riots were “mostly peaceful” despite resulting in an estimated $2 billion in property damage and the deaths of at least 25 people.
Damage from the J-6 protest totaled about $2 million. During the J-6 protests, one person was shot and killed by Capitol Police, two suffered heart attacks and died, and a fourth experienced an accidental overdose. All were Trump supporters and just one of the victims was actively engaged in entering the Capitol when the death occurred. One police officer who may have been sprayed with bear repellant also died after suffering two strokes hours apart. Another four police officers committed suicide following the events of January 6.
Trump is facing two federal cases and four state cases mostly involving his actions in the days before and after January 6, 2000. Prosecutors allege that Trump and his aides attempted to illegally overturn the results of the election.
